Stereoscopic motion-picture camera



H. L. QUICK. r

STEREOSCOPIC MOTION PICT-UIIE CAMERA. APPLICATION FILED MII. 29| I9I6.

1,81 1,008. l A 'Patented July 22, 1919.

y t0 project t -citizen of the United States, of the borough ofBrooklyn, city of New V UNTTED sT-ATEs PATENT oEEIcE.

HOWARD 11|.v QUICK, 0F BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

' sTEnEoscoPIc MOTION-PICTURE CAMERA.

Specification of Letters Patent.

To all ivh'om it may concern.'

Be it known that I, HOWARD L. QUICK, a

and a resident York, county of Kings, and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful vStereoscopic Motion-Picture Cameras, of

which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a camera for taking successive.pictures of objects in motion, which will record the objects on the lmstereoscopically. It has heretofore been proposed to take a plurality ofpictures simultaneously through a plurality of lenses arranged close toeach other, and to repeat the operation rapidly so that a double yrow ofpictures were formed on the same 51m, and when the positives wereprojected in a projecting camera so as to superimpose the pictures fromthe separate rows a stereoscopic effect was produced. The difiicultywith'such a method is that the ilm has to be twice as wide (or more)than the ordinary film in order to accommodate the double row ofexposures. Another disstereoscopic projecting cameras are required epictures, and this presents many disadvantages. With my presentinvention stereoscopic films may be produced which may be projected withany standard projecting camera and, also, the iilm may be of standardsize, and it need be no longer for a given scene than thenonstereoscopic films ordinarily used.

`The broad object of the present device is to take pictures in rapidsuccession in such mannen that alternate exposures will be relativelystereoscopic as to each other. All the exposures are arrangedsuccessively in line lengthwise of the lm, as distinguished from a sideby side arrangement above referred to. If, say, a thousand exposureswould be necessary for a given scene with the ordinary motion picturetaking camera, no greater number will be required in the present case,although a greater number may b'e made if desired. Instead of using aplurality of lenses to project and superimpose the pictures, in thepresent case all the pictures may be projected successively through thesame lens. The pictures are superimposed by illusion, so that the mentalimpresslon is the same, orsubstantially the same, as if a plurality ofstereoscopic pictures were simultaneously projected.

When the present invention is employed in all its aspects it is possibleto avoid the necessity of providing matchedl lenses,l both in the takingand in the projecting cameras.

In the drawings forming part of this invention,

Figure 1 is a plan view`of a camera embodying my invention in thepreferred construction, in which view, part of the box is broken away toshow the interior parts,

Fig. 2 is a sectional view, taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. l,

Fig. 3 is a sectional view, scale, taken on the line 3 8 Fig. 4 is asectional line 4 4 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic View showing the principle on which the deviceoperates, an

Fig. 6 is a face view of a portion of the film, showing the arrangementof the pictures.

Vhile it is not necessary to confine the device to a camera having butone lens for taking all the pictures, nevertheless l prefer such anarrangement because of its simplicity, and I will describe the inventionin such an embodiment without, however, intending to limit this case tosuch an embodiment.

The camera box l, may be of any construction, it being understood thatsuitable mechanism will be provided for advancing a sensitized mediumsuch'as a iilm, step by step and that suitable reels will be providedfor letting off and taking up the film. The ordinary motion picturetaking camera as now commonly used may be employed in its entiretyexcept that the lens casing may require modification and the exposureshutter herein described will replace the one generally used.

The camera box herein shown consists of a top 2, a bottom 3, sides 4, 5,a front 6, and a bottom (not shown).

'l'he lens, here shown as comprising front and rear combinations 7 and8, is mounted on an enlarged of Fig. 2, view, taken on the Patented July22, 1919.

' sector like plates in a casing or lens tube A9 in desired manner, andthe lens casing l1s herein shown as being held by a sleeve 10 havengaiiange 11 secured 'to the front 6 ofthe camera. AOne portion of thecasing a housing 13 on' one side, which' consists of 14, 15- extendinglaterally from the casing and connected by an intermediate portion 16.This arrangement serves to hold the portions ofthe lens casing firmlytogether and the housmg -serves to inclose a portion ofthe perimeterofthe in any desired way.

' suitably supported in a miter gearA shutter.

s"Ilhe'shultter is here shown of simple construction which, however, maybe modified The shutter consists 17 xed to a shaft 18, a bearing 19.vThe shaft 1-8 may be turned-by any of the known of a fiat, circular diskdevices foroperating motion picture camera and in the drawing I haveshown shutters,

20, which maybe connected with the film shifting mechanlsm.

shown of sector. shape 'llhe shutter 'is provided with. exposureaperturesv 21 and 22', which may shaped as shown and which may beduplicated at any .desired intervals around the shutter; that is,.theymay be made shorter and mul- .tiplied as many times as' desired in theirrespective circles.

` The'openings 21, 22`are arranged to vcome alternately in line portionsthereof..

' the exposure apertures come alternately opposite the lens.

If the shutter, 17, is revolved synchronously with the ilm ladvancingmechanism and so that lthe opening 21 therein .is in line with a portionof the lens during lone exposure position of the iilm and so that theopening 22 is in line with a portion of the lens during the nextsucceeding exposure position of the iilin and lthe operation isrepeated, then successive exposures will be made through thesevrespective apertures.

If the strip 23 shown in Fig. 6 represents the lfilm which has been thusexposed then the exposure A-will have been made through the aperture 21and the, exposure 13 will have been made through the aperture 22, or

vice versa. If in theorder first named, thenv circumference of the" has'an open slot 12 whereas there 1sv Y made,

the next exposure, A', will-have been made through the aperture 21, andso on, through- 1 out the length of the film.

Now the objects in the exposure A will I not'be in exactly the sameposition as those in exposure B, even if' they remained stationary whileboth exposures were being but they will be slightly stereoscopic as toeach other. This is due to the fact that these two exposures were madethrough diierent portions of the lens which caused a slight displacementof the objects in the two exposure areas,'in a similar manner, but

to a somewhat lesser degree than if the. ex-

posures were made through ,a pair of lenses arranged side by side. WhileI do not exclude a plural lens arrangement, nevertheless there areadvantages in taking the stereoscopic pictures through. differentportions of -the same'lens. .The relationship of the two sets ofexposures never vary and itis notl necessary -to have matched lenses.The invention, when a single lens is used, may be applied to cameras nowin use, at a very moderate expense. v

The principles of my invention when embodied in a one lens arrangementare gra hicall illustrated in Fig. 5. Herein the ens com inations areshown at 7 and 8 and the' shutter openings are indicated bythe blacklines 21 and 22. In this view these openings are lndicated Vas travelingin slightly overlapping paths, which arrangementis preferable in orderto provide a better blending of the pic-tures when projected. In thisview the line 211 represents the plane of the sensitized film.Consideringany point 25 inthe scene being photographed, the rays oflight therefrom tend to pass in the form offa cone 26 through the lensand to focus on a point' 27 on the ilm plane. If the aperture 21 comesbefore the lens (all other portions of the lens 'being shut 0E at thattime), only lthe rays in one-half, 28, of the -cone of rays of light arepermitted to pass through the lens and these are focused on the point 27vof the` -filrn plane. If, following this, an

aperture 22 only, comes before the lens then the other half, 29, of thecone of light rays pass through another portion of the lens and they arefocused on the point 27. Between these two periods, as above explained,the ilmQis advanced to a new exposure position. If the point 25 be'exactly infocus on the ilm plane at the point 27 then there will vbenoexact stereoscopic resul-tat this point but any point before or behindthe point 25 will produce a stereoscopic effect and this will make thepoint 27 seem stereoscopic.

This may. be lillustrated in connection 'with the dotted lines 30. Anobject at the point 31 which is behind the plane lof the .point 25 1nthe scene, will appear stereoscopic in each set or pair of exposures atthe plane 24, because the rays of light in the separate halves 32, 33 ofthe separate cone of rays 30 cross at the point 34 which is slightly inadvance of the plane 24, and they record at diii'erent relativepositions .35, 36, on the plane 24. The image at the point 31 will, inthe two successive exposures, be recorded at two relatively differentpositions on the plane 24 and this will give rise to the stereoscopiceii'ect.

If an object, such as aperson, be positioned at the point 25 and anotherobject be positioned behind or nearly behind the person the stereoscopiceect will notbe very pronounced as to the person except in so far as thestereoscopic effect on the adjacent object which is truly stereoscopic,renders the person stereoscopic.

In any form of the invention 'the displaced or stereoscopic exposuresare arranged in consecutive order on the film or they may be said tofollow each other in the line of the lm, except as to their slightstereoscopic displacement one to the other. A film made in a cameraembodying my invention may be placed in any ordinary projecting camera.and be projected in the usual j Ianner. As alternate pictures areslightly displaced sidewise in relation to each other they will be soprojected on the screen. As they are projected rapidly the differentexposures are mentally superimposed, giving the effect of perspective,the same as when two pictures are viewed through a' simple stereoscope.At the same time the objects in the icture will appear as moving.

Having Vdescribed my invention, what I claim is: v

1. In a device ofthe class described,vthe combination of a camera fortaking Successive pictures o objects in motion, and means for recordingthe subj ect on a' sensitized medium or film and including -a lensthrough which al1 the exposuresare made and means "be -altemate foralternately opening different portions of the lens whereby alternateexposures will record the subject stereoscopically and with all theexposures in substantial alinement i lengthwise of the sensitizedmedium.

2. In a' device of the class described the combination of a camera fortaking successive pictures of objects in motion, and means for recordingthe subject on a sensitized medium or film and including a lens throughwhich all the exposures are made and means arranged at the focal centerof the lens for alternately opening diiferent portions of the lenswhereby alternate exposures will record the subject relativelystereoscopically and with all the exposures in substantial alinementlengthwise of thesensitized medium.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination of a camera fortaking successive pictures of objects in motion, and means for recordinthe subject on a sensitized medium and lncluding a lens through whichall the exposures are made, and a shutter having apertures arranged toalternately open different portions of the lens, whereby alternateexposures will record the subject relatively stereoscopically.

'4. In a device of the class described, the

combination of a camera for taking successive pictures of obj ects inmotion, and means for vrecording the object on a sensitized medium andincluding a lens through .which allqthe exposures are made, and ashutter arranged 1n a plane passin through the focal center of the lensandg having apertures arranged at different distances from its lcenterwhereby, when said shutter is revolvedl different portions of said lenswill ly opened.

Signed at the city, county and State of New York, this 27th day ofJanuary, 1916.j

- HOWARD L. QUICK.

